"Please wake up."
He whispered it to himself, so quiet he wasn't even sure he'd really said, just made the movement with his mouth. It had been three days, and she had done nothing but lay there, breathing erratically. He was glad that she was breathing, but the rasping sound that she made when she inhaled sounded painful.
Peeta had spent most of these three days on his knees by her side, one hand on her stomach to make sure she was still breathing, the other clinging tightly to her hand. Blood had stained through the sleeping bag, down below her waist, and was all over the knees of Peeta's pants. He hadn't tried to move her, or wake her up. He didn't know anything about healing people.
"Please wake up."
Saying this was how he'd kept himself sane, like if he was alive enough to speak then she would be too, and if he was speaking then she had to, and to speak she would have to wake up but she wouldn't. She just wouldn't wake up.
"Please wake up."
Peeta hadn't seen anyone else who was competing in the Games since Katniss had killed those four people, and he hadn't left the cave.
"Please wake up."
Peeta and Katniss were starving.
"Please wake up."
Katniss hadn't stopped bleeding for the entire time.
"Please wake up."
Katniss's face was deathly pale.
"Please wake up."
Katniss was dying.
Rain started pouring outside, little drops splashing inside the cave and hitting Peeta in the face. Katniss was already sweating, so the added moisture soaked her hair.
"You're a fighter," Peeta cried, his voice breaking. He clutched to the sleeping bag, fingers going numb from squeezing so hard, and his arm shook. "Fight," he pleaded.
Peeta finally allowed himself to sob, really start crying, and he leaned his head down on her stomach. "Katniss," Peeta mouthed. Pain had taken all the air from his lungs, and loss was making him numb. "Don't do this," he begged her stomach.
He sat there until the rain lightened up and he could feel, through the poorly made foliage-cover that hid the mouth of the cave, the sunlight warming his back. Peeta shuddered and sat up again, feeling in his legs long gone. As soon as he blinked the tears out of his eyelashes he shrieked, then slapped a hand over his mouth.
A small, white parachute lay on the floor of the cave across from him and next to Katniss's body. He slowly leaned up and grabbed it, then twisted the lid off of the container. Inside was a small vial filled with red liquid and another vial, this one with a syringe attatched to it. A single, huge bandaid was pressed to the side of the container, wrapper looking crisp.
Peeta grabbed the first vial and twisted the miniscule lid off it, still sobbing a bit. He held it up and smelled it; a rusty scent wafted from the vial, and Peeta blanched at the thought that it could be blood. Holding it away from his face, he saw that it was, fortunately, not blood, but a pain-reducing syrup. He carefully picked up the other vial, this one being slightly larger, and pulled the needle away from it. The golden lid to the vial had a small pinhole in it, so Peeta pulled the orange cap off the needle, shoved the plunger down, and then stuck the needle in the lid. He pulled the plunger back out and then held it in front of his face, flicking the side of the syringe.
Peeta, struggling to take deep breaths now, laid the needle down and slowly, carefully, unzipped the sleeping bag and pulled it away from Katniss's body. Even thought she was on her back, he could see the huge hole in the back of her pantleg and when there blood was still feebly trickling out. Peeta tenderly put a hand on her leg to move the hole around so he could get at her skin when he heard someone whisper, "Don't you dare."
His head whipped up and his eyes widened. Putting a hand to her cheek he cried, "Katniss?" and then started crying again, resting his forehead on her stomach.
She did not move or say anything, so Peeta sat up and breathed, "Tell me what to do." Katniss didn't respond for a long time and for a moment Peeta was afraid that she had fallen asleep again, but then he looked down and saw her fingers were twitching toward the parachute.
"Give it," she breathed, and Peeta picked it up. "There should... be... a rubber... band in there," Katniss panted, eyes still closed. Peeta fumbled around in the container and saw that there was a midnight black band in there, so he pulled it out. "What do we do with this?" he asked quietly, holding it up.
"Put it on my arm," Katniss choked out.
Peeta quickly crouched under the low roof and moved to her other side. He pulled her arm out of the sleeping bag and saw that her fingertips, too, were pale. He hated seeing her without color; her handsome olive skin was one of the things he found most attractive about her.
"Double," she said, and Peeta twisted the band in on itself, then slid it over her wrist and up to her elbow. He stopped a little above her elbow joint and then reached for the needle. "Wait a second," Katniss panted, and Peeta sat, now completely alert, heart racing.
The longer her sat there, he could see a light blue vein pumping in her elbow. It was much too slow to match any healthy heartbeat, so Peeta asked tensely, "Can I do it now?"
Katniss only made a sound.
Peeta took one last deep breath, got a good grip on her arm, and then held up the needle. As much as someone with half of their blood gone and no use of their muscles, Katniss tensed. Peeta jammed the needle in the blue vein in her arm and pushed heavily on the plunger. Katniss held still for the entire time and then slowly, starting at her feet, her entire body relaxed and she fell back into the sleeping bag, limp.
"Did I kill you?" Peeta asked in horror, pupils dialating. "I did it wrong, didn't I?" Peeta looked around the cave as if someone there could help him, and then back to Katniss. "I killed you!" Peeta cried, throwing the empty vial at the cave wall. He tore insanely at his hair and was panting now.
"I'm... not... dead... unfortunately," Katniss croaked, and Peeta looked at her. "Other one," she said, eyes still closed. Peeta, trembling from head to foot, grabbed the other vial and screwed the lid off. "Are you sure?" he asked, and Katniss answered by opening her mouth. Peeta held the vial over her mouth and slowly started to tip it. The red liquid, though it looked thick in the vial, trickled quickly over the side and a steady stream splashed in her mouth. She started to cough and Peeta stopped pouring it, moving to help her sit up. He had to hold her head up because she didn't have enough strength, and then he laid her back down when she grunted. "The rest," she instructed, and Peeta poured the remainder of the vial in her mouth. She pressed her lips together and shuddered a bit, a red droplet forming at the corner of her mouth. It slowly dripped down the side of her face and into her ear. Peeta wiped it away.
"Oh, look, Katniss," Peeta said, a weak attempt at sarcasm, "they gave us a bandaid, like that'll help." He unwrapped it and then held it up to his nose; the padded part was an odd green color. It had a generic medicine smell, so Peeta peeled the rest of the wrapper off and centered it over her stab wound.
"How long since you ate?" Katniss asked, cringing away from Peeta's cold fingers. Every word seemed to cause her pain, and her abdomen tightened every time she opened her mouth. Peeta said quietly, "I ate a bit this morning. Want something?" Katniss said, "No."
"I think you should eat something on top of that medicine," Peeta said, and he used his feet to push himself backward and reach for one of the two backpacks. He unzipped it and dug around inside, then came out with an apple. The red skin was tough, but it wasn't rotten and there were no worms.
Katniss's breath had returned to its panting, like it had been before, and Peeta went back over to her. Night was slowly falling outside, and Peeta saw through the foliage curtain that the Gamemakers had been so cruel as to put fireflies in the arena, as though this were some paradise. Peeta set the apple down next to Katniss, where she could reach it easily, and then scooched away, afraid he was crowding her.
"Get over here," she panted, and Peeta smiled a bit. He was shivering now, but when he slid inside the sleeping bag he could feel that Katniss was probably ten degrees higher than she should've been. "You're hot," he said, leaning up on his elbow. Katniss, although she expressed no emotion, asked, "Is now really the time to woo me?" She cracked open one eye and Peeta saw that the whites of her eyes were run through with streaks of red, and she said, "Lay down. I'll be alright in the morning." She slowly, painfull, moved her arm up so that she would be cradling him when he laid down. He put his head on her shoulder and wrapped another arm over her torso, careful to keep from bumping her leg.
XOXOXO
Peeta woke up freezing. He immediately grabbed the sleeping bag and pulled it tighter around him, but then he realized that there shouldn't have been so much extra space. His eyes shot open and he sat up. "Katniss?" he asked, panicked. The side of his pants was soaked in her blood, although it was dry. He stood up, trying too-quickly to blink the sleep from his eyes. Desperate to be able to see clearly, he balled up his fists and rubbed them ferociously in his eyes. "Katniss?" he asked again.
He pushed through the foliage curtain, still bleary eyed, to see a girl with red hair tied up, stalking toward the edge of the river where Katniss's boots sat, one tipped over. She had't heard Peeta yell! He clamped a hand over his mouth and stepped back into the cave, to the point where he was hidden from her sight but could still see her.
Where was Katniss?
He looked around the cave, hoping maybe she was pressed against the wall, having heard the girl come near. He then realized that she shouldn't even be able to walk, unless that medicine was magic.
The girl with the blazing red hair squatted down next to the river, poking at Katniss's boots, and Peeta saw a circle of sunlight, like the light had hit something reflective. The girl with the red hair died. It happened that quickly.
Peeta didn't even have time to gasp, or realize what was happening, when Katniss sprung out of the tree the girl had squatted under, a two-foot, wickedly curved knife clenched tightly in her hands. The knife went through the back of the girl's neck and she slumped forward, Katniss grunting on top of her. Katniss stood up, panting as though she'd just run a marathon, and then tossed the knife to the ground. A loud cannon shot shook Peeta from his trance and he sprinted forward to Katniss.
Katniss grabbed the girl by the back of her shirt and jerked her back, sending her sprawling. A gush of red covered her neck and Katniss smiled down at her, eyes wide. Peeta stopped a few feet away from her, staring, and then nodded meekly. "Good job," he said, and Katniss's head jerked up to look at him. When he took a step closer, Peeta saw that her eyes were completely dilated. She smiled up at him, and Peeta frowned. He shivered.
Katniss stalked back over and picked up her knife, then moved back over to the girl, whose eyes had slipped closed. She shoved her feet back in her boots and then waved her arm, motioning for Peeta to follow her. As they jogged back to the cave Peeta asked, still a bit shaken, "Your leg. How is it?" Katniss turned her pants to find the cut, which the bandaid was still firmly stuck over, and Peeta saw that no blood had even soaked through.
"Hungry?" Katniss asked, her voice a bit too excited for one trapped in the Hunger Games. She knelt down next to the backpack and pulle dout a plain white package. She tore it open with her teeth and stuffed one piece in her mouth, then tossed the package up to Peeta. "There's only two left, you know," Katniss said eagerly. "Two left and then we can go home."
She stood up and Peeta nodded. "Good," he said simply, and then Katniss leaned out around the edge of the cave. "Foxface is gone," Katniss said, and Peeta frowned. "Foxface?" he asked. Katniss nodded rapidly and said, bouncing a little, "I call her Foxface because her face reminds me of a fox. Wanna go find those other tributes?"
She ran from the cave and Peeta dashed after her, thoroughly confused now. "You want to go and find them?" Peeta asked. Katniss stopped running, still facing away from him. She said, with her back turned, "I'm not going to stay in this arena any longer than I have to." She reached for her belt, where, Peeta was appalled to see, the two-foot knife hung, blood still dripping from the curved tip. Katniss stalked forward angrily and left Peeta to trail behind her, without protection.
XOXOXO
"Arrow," Katniss mouthed, and Peeta reached in the quiver to get one. She then nodded once and he retreated into the hollowed-out tree that they had been so lucky to find. He clutched tightly to the quiver, face white, and watched as Katniss pulled her arm slowly back, aiming at the huge black boy in the field on the edge of the woods.
Peeta could see Katniss's pulse in her neck; since she had been given that medicine she had been a lot more physical and, Peeta thought, almost anxious to run into another tribute.
Katniss took another breath, pushed her shoulders back, and then loosened her fingers. The arrow flew from her grasp and before it even hit the target she smiled, letting the bow fall to her side. She did not move more than that, however, so Peeta didn't either. A cannon shot boomed and Katniss threw one fist in the air, smiling over at Peeta.
Peeta looked down at the ground to keep an eye on his footing, and when he looked back up at Katniss, she was being strangled by a tall, muscular boy with slanted eyes. Katniss's face was red and she was kicking her feet. Her bow had fallen to the ground, a few feet in front of Peeta. In Katniss's struggling the boy had turned around, still trying to snap her neck, and had failed to spot Peeta.
Peeta lunged forward and grabbed the bow. "I'll kill you!" the boy yelled angrily, and Peeta knocked an arrow to the bow the way he'd seen Katniss do so many times before. He pulled it back, trying to be still and calm the way Katniss always was, and took a shaky breath. He couldn't keep his hands from shaking, he couldn't get a clear shot-
The boy spun Katniss around again, stumbling to his knees. Katniss saw what Peeta was doing before the boy did and elbowed him in the throat. He coughed and released her, and she leapt forward, ducking under the arrow that Peeta had sent flying. She fell to his feet, and the boy gasped. Peeta had hit him in the chest, but the arrow had gone in crookedly. It hadn't killed him yet. Katniss rolled around at the now frozen Peeta's feet, and then she shot up. She lunged at the boy, who was groping blindly at the air, and slashed the wicked knife across his throat. Blood splashed forward and into Katniss's face, and the boy fell backward on his legs.
Peeta, panting heavily, moved forward to help Katniss up, took in a stunned breath and jumped back. Although the boy was so obviously dead- the cannon shot had proved so- Katniss was now sitting on his chest, raising the knife high above her head and then bringing it down on his body in places that didn't make sense, places that wouldn't kill anyone. When Peeta stepped forward to grab Katniss's shoulders he saw flashes of horrible things. He saw the moment that the knife stabbed through his neck and into the soft dirt under him, saw when the knife came back out, blood-soaked veins coming with it. She saw Katniss missed his face and sliced off his ear, and then when the motion knocked his head sideways, he saw that blood splashed up, like a fountain, when she plunged the blade into the soft skin under his jaw. She was making animalistic sounds, sounds that humans had never made before, except maybe in the Games, when they were fighting for their lives. Peeta closed his eyes against this, tried to close his ears against Katniss's grunting, but he didn't turn off his hearing in time to miss the announcer's panicked voice.
"Stop! Stop! Ladies and gentlemen, I am pleased to present the victors of the Seventy-Fourth Hunger Games, Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark! I give you- the tributes of District Twelve!"
Katniss looked up, shocked, knife poised over the boy's mutilated body. Peeta gagged and grabbed Katniss's shoulder. "We have to win, Peeta," she said, still staring hungrily at the boy's body. He held tighter onto her shoulder, heart thumping so hard it hurt. "We can win this," Katniss said through clenched teeth.
Peeta's face crumpled like a paper cup in a bonfire, "We did win, Katniss. We won."
Katniss frowned, gripped hre knife tighter, and although she didn't move from her spot, she said a bit impatiently, "We're wasting time."
Well, I was inspired you guys. I woke up at 11 (I have to because Jerry Springer is on at noon) but I couldn't get my butt out of bed so I got my iPod and listened to songs off the Hunger Games soundtrack until I finally figured out what I wanted to do with this. Can anyone guess? And, as I don't own any of the Hunger Games books (my birthday is July 2nd, though) jlhumph was so kind as to relay the last page of the Hunger Games to me, and for that I am forever grateful. Lol.
Well, I've started the next chapter already, so maybe I'll spoil y'all and post tomorrow. What the heck, it's summer!
Stay fabulous,
~Paige